Nero at the Circus

Maximus

Nero

Written by Lin DonnIllustrated by Phillip Martin

The Roman Empire lasted for 500 years.

In ancient Rome, emperors had absolute rule. They controlled the government, the military, and the people.

Nero

One of the most famous Roman emperors was Nero.

At first, the people thought Nero was rather fun. He was always doing crazy things. One day, Nero showed up at the Circus Maximus, ready to race!

Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus was a huge outdoor arena, with seating for 250,000 people. It was used mostly for chariot racing by the best professional racers.

Circus Maximus

There were other circuses around the empire, but the Maximus was the most famous. There were races every day. Admission was FREE!

Circus Maximus

At the circus, people had a lot of fun cheering loudly for their favorite team.

Circus Maximus

If you were cheering for the gold team, you would wave something gold. If you were supporting two teams, you might wave one color, and wear another.

Nero’s color was purple.At first, people cheered loudly for Nero. He tried very hard to win.

Circus Maximus

Unfortunately, Nero had little skill as a racer. In fact, he was just plain terrible!

Since horses were notworkingvery well ..

Nero

Nerotriedhitchingcamels to his chariot.

Camelscan move very rapidly.

Nero

Unfortunately, it takes skill to race them well.

Next, Nero tried holding races at night, when no one could see what was going on.

Nero

He declared himself the winner of every race, even when he wasn’t racing.

That didn’t work. For some reason, people stopped coming to the races at night.

Nero

Nero was unhappy. He wanted a big crowd on hand to cheer him.

So Nero cheated. Each chariot was supposed to be pulled by four horses.

Nero

Nero hitched 10 horses to his chariot to give himself a huge advantage over the other racers.

He still would have lost every race. He was that bad. Only no one dared to beat him.

Nero

Anyone who tried had a fatal “accident” soon after.

Since Nero always won, the 250,000 fans who came to cheer their favorite racer found the Circus Maximus rather dull if Nero was there.

Nero

The Senate could have stopped him from cheating, but the Senators were afraid of Nero.

Things never improved while Nero was emperor, not at the races and not in the Empire.

Nero

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